Monthly Archives: June 2013

Downtown, Essential DC, History, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts
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Celebrating 125 Years of National Geographic

Entryway to Exploration bhrome

The National Geographic Society was founded 125 years ago. Its purpose? To expand and share geographic and scientific knowledge through the spirit of exploration. That mission continues to drive National Geographic amidst more than a century of technological and scientific innovations. And for the next year, visitors to the Society’s Museum here in DC can celebrate and enjoy the most iconic moments in the organization’s history.

The exhibition opens with a colorful celebration of the Society’s iconic magazine. The entry arch is constructed entirely of hundreds of past issues in a variety of languages, a fitting tribute to the simple golden square that symbolizes the publication. As visitors walk down a short hallway, they are greeted with a colorful display that shows off the cover of every issue of National Geographic, including placeholders for the future editions to be published during the exhibition’s year-long run.

After a short look at the Society’s founding members—using an interactive portrait—the exhibition opens up to encompass the three areas of the organization’s focus in exploration: land, sea, and sky. The galleries are covered in colorful images that highlight fascinating stories throughout the Society’s history. Science and exploration are the primary focus, including ancient civilizations and cultures, paleontology, wildlife, oceans, and the environment. Continue reading →

Education, Entertainment, We Love Arts
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Young Playwrights’ Workshop Presents

Nicole and Morena Writing / Courtesy Young Playwrights' Theater

Nicole and Morena Writing / Courtesy Young Playwrights’ Theater

In their new original play, the Young Playwrights’ Workshop asks the question, “Do people change?” Set on New Year’s Eve, their latest collaborative effort delves into the lives of diverse characters, from a spoiled socialite to a hardworking waiter.

The Young Playwrights’ Workshop is an after-school student theater ensemble and part of the Young Playwrights’ Theater (YPT). The students wrote the play together and will perform it themselves when they premiere Young Playwrights’ Workshop Presents this Monday at the Source Festival.

YPT’s artistic director Nicole Jost leads the after-school workshop. Jost is a local playwright and alumna of YPT’s playwriting program. I talked with her about the show’s evolution and what it means for DC.

Continue reading →

Comedy in DC, Entertainment, People, The Features
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Comedy in DC: Marc Maron

marc maron theNerdPatrol

Marc Maron, a man highly revered and rewarded for his naturally salty disposition, is living the dream for curmudgeons everywhere. The comedian has opened up his personal life to an extensive following of WTF podcast listeners, IFC series viewers, and now, memoir readers.

Truth be told, I am skeptical of stand-up comedians turned writers because their stories tend to read like bits. Marc Maron’s Attempting Normal, his recently published collection of autobiographical mishaps, is no exception; however, Maron’s “bits” have always been his memoirs. His personal life is the driving force of his sarcastically sage voice that beautifully blurs the line between stand up and storytelling.

Earlier this week, a number of Maron fans gathered at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue for his reading of Attempting Normal. Marc Maron arrived on the bema and immediately cut to the chase.

“Alright, do you want me to read or do you want me to talk?” Continue reading →

We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends: June 14 – 16

Going Tubing! kylebogucki

Don: It’s my birthday and I’ll go tubing if I want to. Down Gunpowder Falls, in fact. And now that it’s our 3rd year of doing this for my birthday we find that you tube free on your birthday. This would have been useful information in the past, but hey, I’ll take it now. After that it’s all “relaxation” of the home prep type to get ready for our annual Flag Day party. Protip: if you really really hate when people bring you presents, name your shindig after a national holiday (even if it’s one that most people are unaware of) – it works better than “no gifts” on the invite. After all that “relaxation” I’m going to need some time to lay on the couch and do nothing, which is my firm plan for my first Father’s day as a father.

pop tart & milkshake ekelly80

Max: A lot of consumption on tap for this weekend, beginning with dinner and beer on Friday night at the recently opened B Too in Logan Circle. The extremely Belgian sounding menu is curated by the apparently (Top-Chef) famous Bart Vandalae, who makes me laugh because I think of Art Vandelay. On Saturday, I’ll be playing the part of escort to a friend’s surprise birthday brunch at Crios. The $13 all you can drink component should make things interesting, and we’ll see where I wind up after the festivities continue outdoors with cornhole and such. Sunday, I’m going to hop on a boat in Annapolis and make my way to the perfect deck at Waterman’s Crab House for some shellfish smashing. Phew, a lot on tap.

Native Run - Live @ Jammin' Java Matthew Straubmuller

Rachel: For the first time in while I have absolutely no plans for my Friday night and this excites me very much. After I catch up on sleep and get other things out of the way, that makes room for Saturday when I’m going to try my absolute hardest to make it to Jammin’ Java to see the 3MTs. Then, a few of my favorite people and I are going to go to our favorite old haunt — the Clyde’s Race Bar in Friendship Heights. And, as always, Sunday is softball day for the GPCSL so that’s where I’ll be. Quality weekend for sure.

1st week of CSA from Miller's Plant Farm in York, PA. This is half a full share (splitting with my mom). The eggs are an add-on, local & free-range. amberdegrace

Tom: If it’s June, it’s CSA farm season, so catch me out in the country on Saturday. I’ll start with breakfast in Leesburg at South Street Under for their Ciabatta sandwiches, and then it’s out to Great Country Farms to get our box. Lunch will be at Market Salamander in Middleburg, where we’ll pretend we live in small town America for an afternoon. Sunday we’ve got work to do at the house, but we’ll likely hit up the usual spots. Of course Sunday night without Game of Thrones is going to be a bit much to take. For our weekly dose of crazy, though, we might just hit up Rock n Roll Hotel’s Air Sex championship. Yes. You read that right.

caroline.angelo

Fedward:  Keeping with the “under contract and in escrow” theme of the past couple weekends, the Social Chair and I don’t have much of anything going on.  Friday we’ll check out the lawn games and frozen cocktails of Suburbia. Saturday we’re helping Don celebrate Flag Day. Sunday we’ll binge on Before movies, um, ‘before’ going to the AFI Silver for Before Midnight. We’ll then finish off the weekend in our usual brunch-at-Passenger style, because some things never change. Aside from all that, we’ll be packing.  Anybody have any spare moving boxes?

DSC_2834 MudflapDC

Joanna: Family’s in town this weekend, so we’ll be making our usual stop at Shelly’s Backroom. Plus it’s Father’s Day, which we’ll celebrate with a nice brunch outside – heck, maybe even a manly airplane picnic at Gravelly Point. Dad also likes farmer’s markets, so I’d like to take him to Arlington’s. I’m ending the weekend at Taqueria el Poblano, with some of the best fish tacos around.

DPR Doggie Swim Day 2012 (4 of 7) caroline.angelo

Katie: Friday we’re getting outside (is it safe?) and hitting up Cantina Marina for some waterfront taco love. One of my favorite things about summer is watching the sunset over the harbor, drink in hand. Saturday, my beloved Tash is starting brunch service, and I’ll be the first one in line. Saturday night I’m headed to the Hirshorn and then we’ll hit up 14th street for dinner. Masa? El Centro? I’m in a Richard Sandoval mood. Who knows. Sunday, I want to relax at a pool, so we’re heading over to Georgetown to relax country club style at Volta Park Pool.

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo

Pentagon City | June 10, 2013 Noe Todorovich

Sometimes you just have to flip the camera upside-down in order to get the photo you want. Noe shows the result you can get with her simple, yet elegant, shot of a reflection in a puddle. Some wonderful white clouds, accented with a touch of blue sky, are dirtied with what’s on the bottom of the puddle. All that gives the image a wonderful texture and gives the viewer’s eye some depth to get lost in. The ripples also add a nice element to the shot by distorting the pole just enough to make it look abstract. Such a wonderful photo!

Interviews, Music, People, She/He Loves DC, The Features
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He Loves DC: Ben Tufts

Ben Tufts & Friends/Craig Tufts Scholarship Fundraiser Photo/Jason Hornick

Photo Courtesy of Ben Tufts // Photo by Jason Hornick

She/He Loves DC is a series highlighting the people who love this city just as much as we do.

Whether he’s on the road or back home in the District, Ben Tufts is a perpetual student and dedicated teacher. If you ask just about anyone within the DC music scene if they know or have heard of Ben, it’s more than likely that they’ll say, “Yes.” He’s played over 300 shows in the past two years, with over thirty bands and artists, covering most of the continental U.S. and has become a cornerstone of the current DC scene.

His devotion to his craft is immeasurable. As a percussionist, Ben has spent countless hours over the course of his lifetime playing all styles of music from classical to hard rock and now teaches a  wide array of students throughout the greater DC area. But despite his busy schedule, Ben still finds the time to host an annual fundraiser at Jammin’ Java honoring the memory of his late father Craig Tufts, who served as Chief Naturalist for the National Wildlife Federation for 33 years, with the “Ben Tufts and Friends Concert” benefiting the Craig Tufts Memorial Fund. This year’s fundraiser is scheduled for August 17.

What is it about DC that makes it home to you?

I was born in Falls Church, and lived in Reston for a few years before my family moved to the Claude Moore Farm in Sterling, VA. Until I was eight, I had a 300+ acre backyard with a bunch of lakes, ponds, and old growth Virginia forest in it. My closest neighbor was several miles away, so books and records became my best friends. We moved to the suburbs later, and as soon as my parents would let me, I was going to shows in DC. I still remember the smell in the front hall of the old 9:30 Club on F street, the scary bouncers at the Bayou, etc.

Continue reading →

Music, The Features, We Love Music
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The Winning Ticket: John Fogerty @ DAR Constitution Hall, 11/8/13

fogerty

We have a special, unexpected treat today, as the 9:30 Club is presenting the legendary John Fogerty in concert at DAR Constitution Hall on Friday, Nov. 8.

The famous roots rocker will be playing the classic album, “Cosmo’s Factory,” by his former band Creedance Clearwater Revival, along with other hits. The quadruple platinum “Cosmo’s Factory” put CCR on the map with such songs as “Travelin’ Band” and “Who’ll Stop the Rain.”

As a way to say thanks to our loyal readers, We Love DC is giving away a pair of tickets to this John Fogerty show before you can buy them. (They go on sale to the public on Friday, June 14, at 10am.)

Continue reading →

Music, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Metric @ Ram’s Head Live, Baltimore, Md. — 6/7/13

Metric - Emily Haines 38994305@N08

I am now going to unabashedly gush about Metric, who played a sold-out show at Ram’s Head Live in Baltimore Friday night.

The combination of the sweet, breathy vocals of Emily Haines along with the rock guitar of James Shaw and the dependable rhythm section of bassist Joshua Winstead and drummer Joules Scott-Key make for an irresistible concert performance. The band always has been a favorite of mine since I first heard the single “Combat Baby,” and their first album, “Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?” In that song and many others on their first few albums, the band relied on catchy melodies and wordplay to create fun, thoughtful songs.

But in their last two albums, Metric have stepped it up a quite a bit. The fourth album, Fantasies, and the fifth, Synthetica, which came out about a year ago, marked a quantum leap in exhibiting their capabilities in songwriting and crafting infectious dance music. The strengths of the band members and the power of the Synthetica album were on full display Friday as they opened with “Artificial Nocturne,” which starts out in a sweet and fragile vocal and sparse instrumentation before blowing up into a full-blown disco thumper — a favorite Metric tactic. It’s an entrancing, intoxicating song that is readymade to be a concert opener, luring you in and then opening you up to more intricate sounds as the song moves along.

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Weekend Flashback
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Weekend Flashback: 6/7-6/9

IMG_2648 logan.brown

I’m gathering, from all of the great photos in our Flickr pool, that almost all of our readers went to the Capital Pride Parade in DuPont over the weekend. There are many more excellent photos, so I’d recommend checking out our pool. FYI: if you’re at work, there are a few images that might be considered NSFW, so fair warning. Hopefully your office won’t mind and you can check out the great photos.

Moving right along: sadly, it’s another work week. And we get to start this one off with at least one day of cloudy and rainy. But we have these great photos from the weekend; so let’s relive it to brighten up this dreary Monday! Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Jordan Zimmermann and the Nats Dominate Twins 7-0

Photo courtesy of MudflapDC
DSC_7994
courtesy of MudflapDC

Having used seven relievers in Saturday’s extra innings loss to the Minnesota Twins the Nats needed Jordan Zimmermann to go deep in game one of Sunday’s doubleheader. As he has done all season long Jordan Zimmermann looked like the Ace he was drafted to be pitching seven innings allowing no runs on a measly two hits with seven strikeouts and two walks. It could be said that this was a great start, but most starts by Jordan Zimmermann have been this season. After this afternoon’s contest he is averaging over seven innings a start and has a 2.00 ERA.

The game didn’t get off to the smoothest of starts for the Nationals, a team that has struggled to score runs all season and has been bleed dry by tiny mistakes. The first of the Nats mistakes came in the top of the third inning when Anthony Rendon, not wearing sunglasses, lost a pop-up in the high sky and dropped it allowing Clete Thomas to reach base with Escobar, the previous, batter having walked. With two outs and having retired the last five by strikeout Jordan Zimmermann picked up his teammate and struck out Ryan Doumit to end the inning.

Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats Fall 4-3 in the 11th Against Minnesota

20 Wins!
courtesy of ameschen

After two days off due to rain in DC, the Washington Nationals fell 4-3 in the eleventh inning to the Minnesota Twins on Saturday. The Nats failed to rally late in the game and their lackluster, inconsistent offense continued to haunt the team’s lineup.

Saturday’s contest was the first time in team history that the modern-day Washington Nationals faced the original Washington Nationals/Senators (aka the Twins) in DC. It was also the first game played by the Twins in DC since July 19, 1971 at RFK Stadium.

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Entertainment, Interviews, Music, People, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Stephen Kellogg

Photo Courtesy of Missing Piece Group

Photo Courtesy of Missing Piece Group

Amid the adversity of life, Americana Rock singer-songwriter Stephen Kellogg found himself at a crossroads. His band, The Sixers, went on hiatus after nine years of playing together at the end of November 2012. And for the first time since 2002, Kellogg was in a place where he could release a solo album.

“Blunderstone Rookery,” which is scheduled for a June 18 release, comes after the loss of Kellogg’s mother-in-law, grandmother, and the roof of his house. The album features a collection of honest songs written with the hope of leaving behind a positive legacy for his family — a feat that Kellogg encourages all people to strive for in their own lives.

Rachel: “Blunderstone Rookery” is being released at a unique time in your life and you’ve drawn inspiration for these songs from personal stories. What would you say are the biggest challenges you’ve faced while writing and releasing this album?

Stephen Kellogg: The amazing thing about life is that it’s always a unique time in one’s life, because it’s the only time you’ll ever be where you are. We can look back with hindsight and kind of understand or make sense of what was going in a given moment, but often it’s tough to fully appreciate where we’re at while it’s happening. While writing and releasing this album I was very aware that I was in a challenging place because I had lost my mother-in-law, my grandmother, the roof of my house, and my band in the course of about five weeks. Not surprisingly I got kinda sick, and found myself knowing that was going to be something I was going to have to “go” through and “grow” through.

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Food and Drink, The Features, We Love Drinks
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Drinks Preview: Mockingbird Hill

Bamboo sherry cocktail, Mockingbird Hill Jenn Larsen

Derek Brown was describing the concept behind Mockingbird Hill one lazy, sherry-soaked afternoon. The name came from a line in Spanish Bombs, by The Clash (“The Only Band That Matters”) and the motif was inspired by the casual wine bars of Spain. It would feature some 54 sherries selected by his wife (and famous sherry proponent) Chantal Tseng, who was leaving Tabard Inn to work with him running the bar.

“So basically,” I said, “it’s a love letter to your wife.”

Opening tonight, their new bar is a love letter to a lot of things. To sherry and time spent in Spain. To family and friends. To both self-professed “sherry addicts” and to those who don’t know anything about sherry but are happy to learn. Located on 7th Street NW in a section of Shaw that’s primed to become one of the most exciting areas in the city, Mockingbird Hill feels like a new chapter in bar life for DC. It’s a casual spot to sip and learn, eat ham, listen to punk rock, and talk. It’s, dare I say, adult, in a very sexy way. I’m sure it’ll be packed for a bit, as new places always are in our city starved for more density, but eventually it’ll settle into that perfect third space bar. Continue reading →

Entertainment, We Love Arts
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In Rehearsal with Les Miserables

Les Miserables in rehearsal / courtesy The Theatre Lab

Les Miserables in rehearsal / courtesy The Theatre Lab

We stepped into the large theater at Calvary Baptist Church on 8th Street and made our way to a seat. Deb Gottesman was instructing a varied chorus of old and young on the rehearsal process and what to expect from the night. My husband – a seasoned actor himself – turned to me and asked, “Is this a class?”

Yes and no. It’s Theatre Lab – an independent, nonprofit school for the dramatic arts. It’s also home to a new production of Les Misérables – hence my husband’s confusion. This was a rehearsal, a class, and a performance all in one.

Continue reading →

We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends: June 7-9

Mixing Up Drinks at Jack Rose Jenn Larsen

Rebecca: Tons of crazy, amazing, fun stuff going on this weekend. Friday I’m off to the Cut Copy concert at the 930 club where I’m gonna dance myself crazy to their electro-pop, 80s beats. Saturday I’ll be running and getting covered in dye at the Run or Dye 5K taking place at RFK. Will likely need a shower and a cold beer after that saga. Saturday evening, it’s a friend’s birthday party at Jack Rose which will likely end up with crazy group dancing somewhere on U Street or AdMo. Sunday morning footie will detox me from my weekend debauchery and I’ll finish things out by ordering pho from Sprig & Sprout and watching Hemlock Grove.

Rachel: I’ll be spending most of this weekend at Nats Park which I’m looking forward to since I’ve been on vacation for most of the past two weeks and missed hanging out down by the Navy Yard. Then, Sunday will be the usual afternoon of softball with the GPCSL before heading to The Dunes for the Metro Music Source‘s Four Year Anniversary Celebration. We’ll be saying farewell to MMS co-founder Jem Bahaijoub of ImaginePR who is moving on to new opportunities in the coming weeks. It’s an event not to be missed by those looking to network within the greater DC music community, that’s for sure.

Walking in the rain mcdanielism

Don: Our weekend will be a little low-key, and not just because it looks like the sky is going to spend both days dumping on us. We’re going to a post-wedding celebration and a bon voyage party, confusingly for a Carl and a Karl. We’ve resorted to just calling them Big Daddy and Curls. Beyond that we don’t have much on deck except perhaps seeing if we can buy Ed and Kate a celebratory drink on Sunday, if only they can pick a bar they like.

Maya:  I’m excited to write my first weekend update; however, I apologize for not introducing myself with a more exciting weekend.  On Friday, I will be dining at Brasserie Beck with hopes for oysters and Belgian IPA’s galore.  Saturday, I’ll adhere to my bi-weekly tradition of catching up on some reading at Blind Dog Cafe with one (or three) of their mouth watering chocolate chip cookies.  The evening will remain simple and sweet with some grilling and good friends.  I shamefully admit that Sunday will be my first venture to Union Market, which is hosting the event Israel@65.  It will be a great excuse to catch up with my parents, who live in Tenleytown, and satiate our Mediterranean palates while jamming to some tunes strummed by popular Israeli musicians.

... señor sideburns

Joanna: This weekend depends – as it always seems these days – on the weather. I’d really like to take the dog to Rock Creek Park, but since it will likely rain I might wind up at the National Portrait Gallery to see this and this, then to the Mall to check out the One Million Bones project, raising awareness for genocide. Approaching Ali is happening Sat/Sun – the first hourlong opera created through the American Opera Initiative. New opera at a decent ticket price, but just for two days. On Sunday I’m cheering on a friend at the Air Force Challenge Ride, then going to a guacamole-themed party (recipes welcome) before planting myself in one spot for the Tony Awards.

Tom: Jazzfest! The craziest weekend of the year at Merriweather Post starts Friday night and runs all weekend, so catch me up in Columbia for this year’s bill. Of course the Nats are home, too, so I’ll be out at Nats Park hoping the Nats can get it together and start to win series, even if I’m suspect that this year is their year, predictions all aside. I had been hoping to get some time to head out to Frager’s to pick up garden supply, but I may have to re-home that trip over to Brookland Hardware, which has started to hold occasional Sunday hours.

The Yards Bridge eakidwell

Katie: Friday night is all about relaxing, so if it’s not raining, we might picnic in Lincoln Park, or down by Yards Park. Saturday, I’m invited to a Great Gatsby Garden Party, which sounds delightful, then we’re going out on the town. I want to pre-apologize to U street or Columbia Heights for my behavior in advance. Sunday, I’ll keep it low key with a spin class at Biker Barre and dinner at Le Grenier on H Street.

Fedward: having gone from “just looking” to “under contract” in one fast, stressful week, the Social Chair and I now have the challenge of getting the house bought and closed on time.  Our social lives are thus curtailed somewhat until everything is, well, settled.  We’ve already dropped off our earnest money  had our inspection, and locked our rate, but we still need to finalize our loan.  Saturday we’ll stop and smell the flowers, literally, at a lavender farm and then follow that up with some Quaker fun (do Quakers even have fun?) in Sandy Spring (I think we’re mostly going to hang out with friends). And Sunday we’ll graciously allow Don and his Darling Wife to buy us drinks, probably at the Passenger, because of course that’s where.

Shining light: Reginald Cyntje on trombone at Twins Jazz Timothy Forbes Photography

Jenn: There’s so much to choose from this weekend! First off, festivals. CulturalDC’s 6th annual Source Festival starts Friday. Running for three weeks, it features three new full-length plays, eighteen new ten-minute plays, and three “artistic blind dates” which will give audiences a chance to see the creative process of new play development up close. The DC Jazz Festival is already underway, running until June 16 at multiple venues around town and there’s lots to great music to choose from. Plus, the Supernova Big Bang Dance Party is this Saturday at Artisphere. Or see Russian indie band Pompeya at Tropicalia. Speaking of Russia, I need to get to NGA to see the Ballet Russes exhibit, especially after attending that amazing Stravinsky party last week. But I know I’m not fooling anyone. I’ll probably spend the entire weekend daydreaming. Or at Mockingbird Hill. Yes, Derek Brown and Chantal Tseng’s new sherry and ham bar has its grand opening Friday. It’s already my new happy place.

News, The Hill
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Frager’s Gone

Frager's Hardware after the fire, a burnt out hust

Photo by @IAFF36, used with permission

The iconic DC Hardware store is all but a ruin, this morning. Firefighters still remain on-scene to make sure the remaining paint products aren’t reigniting, and that the fire they fought most of the night doesn’t spread any further than it did. The south side of Pennsylvania Avenue between 10th and 12th is still blocked off by fire trucks and emergency personnel, and as the photo above shows, what’s left may not be salvageable.

Hill resident and COO of Anacostia Playhouse Julia Christian set up a Give Forward campaign late last night to benefit the owner and staff of Frager’s, with a target of $100,000. There is already more than $2,000 in the donations box across 32 donors. While Frager’s was likely insured, coping with any disaster like this isn’t as straight forward as the insurance commercials lead you to believe.

More than just the shop, there’s a whole staff at Frager’s who lost their place of work last night in the fire. Matchbox owner Fred Herrmann told DCist late yesterday that any Frager’s staffer who needs temporary work should come to their Barracks Row location on 8th St SE today between 2 and 5pm and he’ll do his best to put them right to work. I would suspect that following the lead of The Tune Inn and Capitol Lounge and elsewhere, there will be a fundraiser in the near future to benefit the staff as well.

There’s a big hole in the Capitol Hill community this morning. Though there are promises from Councilmember Tommy Wells and Mayor Vincent Gray to help Frager’s rebuild, it’s going to be a long and arduous process to get back to anything like normal. As a local archaeologist wrote yesterday, “It all changes, and we never seem to record the right things in the right order at the right time. It’s hard to know what to do.”

I can only think of one thing to do today: appreciate your neighborhood and city institutions. By fire or by tragedy, they may leave before we’re ready. This city is full of many beautiful, incredible places like Frager’s, places that can’t easily be replaced or rebuilt, that are unique to our place and our time, special threads that hold together neighborhoods and communities. Our communities need places like Frager’s the same way they need schools and fire stations and hospitals. They’re just not the same without them.

Help Frager’s rebuild if you can, or help make sure your own institutions stay healthy in your community, it’s doing DC a good deed, and that truly matters.

News
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Frager’s on Capitol Hill Ablaze

Fragers fire

Photo by Tim Krepp, special to We Love DC

Amid evening rush, the horrible news became clear: Frager’s Hardware on Pennsylvania Ave SE was ablaze.
 
The fire, classified by DC Fire & EMS as a four-alarm fire, has over 100 firefighters on the scene. Multiple DC FEMS tower trucks attempting to put out the fire. Likely lost are the Frager’s Hardware Store facing Pennsylvania Avenue, as well the Frager’s paint store behind the main building. The 93-year-old hardware store has been a pillar of the Capitol Hill community, and a massive resource for the community.
 
Frager’s was, for all intents and purposes, the heart of Capitol Hill. It was the place you went for help, for supplies, for support. Numerous stories were told tonight on Twitter
 
Thankfully, the damage to Frager’s doesn’t include its staff. Owner John Weintraub reported to Charles Allen, chief of staff to Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells, that all his staff escaped unharmed.
 
Frager’s isn’t the first Hill icon to suffer a major blaze in recent history. The Tune Inn suffered a kitchen fire that closed the famous pub for a number of months in 2011. In April of 2007, a horrific fire gutted Eastern Market’s North Hall. Both were rebuilt with significant support from the city and the Capitol Hill community. I suspect that Frager’s recovery will be similar. 
 
The fire is, at press time, still not contained, and the IAFF local 36 suggests that this will be an all-night affair getting the flames in the paint store down. Smoke from the fire was visible from throughout DC, from nearby Nationals Park to as far northwest as Tenleytown. 
 

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo

George H.W. Mondmann

Dana Carvey impersonations aside, this is an excellent forced perspective photo by Robert. Perfectly angling the abstract George H.W. Bush statue, located in the American Art Museum, to make it appear that it is reaching out to the man sitting in the gallery. The black and white coloring of the photo helps to simplify the composition and confine the viewer’s attention on the statue and seated person. Well sighted and well executed; very prudent. A thousand points of light, in fact.